Report - Tomnadashan Copper Mine, Perth and Kinross - Feb 2022

[alex17595]

There seems to be very little history on this place that I can find.

It operated from 1838-1862 and was owned by Lord Bredalbane until his death in 1862, which presumably is why the mine closed. There is remains of a smelter and chemical works lower down the hill.


The mine is most famous for being the home of the Killer rabbit of Caerbannog in Monty python and the holy grail. Fans of the film have left a few rabbits and body parts lying around.

That's no ordinary rabbit

Look at the bones!

Copper staining on the wall

Looking inside

Ooo shiny, I have no idea what it is though.

Inside there is a tunnel at the bottom where there is a very strong smell of sulphur - I would say it's even worse than Cae Coch sulphur mine

Out the back there is another pit which drops quite steeply

It was so fast the camera didn't have time to focus!

There is some lovely colours in the wall

A shaft outside, the water from the tunnel in the mine drains out this way.

View down Loch Tay

the mine site

I would suggest that this used to be an adit

 

[tigger]

Shiny stuff might be chalcopyrite - though from the photo I'm not sure which bit you mean is shiny. Similar to Iron pyrite but with added copper (yeah...I'm not a mineralogist and I forget the exact structure).

Good to see a report on somewhere quite different. Never seen any photos except the outside or distant views before.
Fairly small mine and looking at your photos almost certainly not a productive one. Perhaps when the Lord found the Black Beast of Aaaaargh (which the rabbit protected) he stopped wasting money on holes.

 

[alex17595]

Shiny stuff might be chalcopyrite - though from the photo I'm not sure which bit you mean is shiny. Similar to Iron pyrite but with added copper (yeah...I'm not a mineralogist and I forget the exact structure).

Good to see a report on somewhere quite different. Never seen any photos except the outside or distant views before.
Fairly small mine and looking at your photos almost certainly not a productive one. Perhaps when the Lord found the Black Beast of Aaaaargh (which the rabbit protected) he stopped wasting money on holes.

Yeah it looks like it might be chalcopyrite, seem strange that they never bothered to mine it.


I think there is a bit more to it, the sulphury tunnel must go somewhere. There is another one on the opposite side as well but there is some deep mud down there.

I've tried to draw a diagram but all I have done is made a mess

Edit: This is what I think the layout was. Yellow being workings and red the connecting tunnels.

 

[tigger]

I'm a bit confused by the shaft being the exit for water in your captions?
The wet sulphorous tunnel with water could easily be an earlier drive or drainage adit. Again more guess but does it appear to head to the spoil covered gulley you suspected was an adit?


Old maps also show a shaft lower down near the loch but again out of use before public OS mapping. Lead or copper seem most likley for that area but it's not labelled on any maps I have.

OS 25" 1898 survey

This might be of interest (from BGS Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of Great Britain)

 

[alex17595]

Water from the mine ends up at the bottom of the shaft and doesn't appear again. Where I think the possible adit was is a bit swamp but no sign of actual running water. There is water coming out of the ground just above the road where point 617 is on the map. It's must cleaner than the nasty stuff in the mine.


BGS have a plan of trails around tomnadashan from 1844 but it isn't available online.